The costumes and setting here suggest a masquerade, perhaps in Venice.
Like the elegant and enigmatic trio depicted, however, the painting remains
mysterious. It has been attributed to many different artists, most recently
Le Lorrain, a little-known artist who spent nine years in Italy and was
recognized primarily as a "painter of ruins." Le Lorrain also designed
interiors, furniture (including a neoclassical suite in a portrait by Greuze in the Gallery's collection), and sets for public spectacles (like Louis XV's coronation). The
frosty colors and cold, hard light in this painting appear similar to those
in another work by Le Lorrain, but few of his works exist for comparison.
Eventually he accepted an invitation from Catherine the Great to head the
Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, dying there only a few months after
he arrived.